“Oh God,” I said and paused to catch my breath. He’d found me.
“What’s wrong?” Jon whispered urgently, Chang right at his hip.
“Nothing, I’m fine.” Father was still giving his speech, but he was wrapping it up quickly. We didn’t have time to spare. “Just keep going.” Jon took me at my word, and we ran down the hall to the CEO offices.
Father’s suite stretched the entire width of the building. Two sets of thick red-stained double doors stood about twenty feet apart, each leading to a different area of his office. At each set of doors, two guards stood at attention. Jon cursed under his breath. Cordele’s info on the number of guards had been wrong by half.
We were hidden behind a curved tile wall. Jon turned to me. I didn’t wait for his order. We were out of time. I reached out to the guards’ minds and instantly shut them down. Father had been drugging them, so it was easy. They fell to their knees, then planted their faces on the floor.
“Dude,” Chang said in awe.
We moved forward quickly, Jon scowling at me. “You were supposed to send them away. Distract them. Not knock them unconscious.”
“Whatever, just move.”
We hustled into Father’s office. I shut the door and locked it, but it didn’t matter. Father’s power pulsed all around me now, trying to probe into my brain, discover my identity. I closed my eyes, concentrated on breathing. He would come now. I would have to see him. The instinctual panic that Father brought out of me threatened to rise. I needed to get out of here. Now.
“Are you done yet?” I hissed to Chang.
His fingers flew over Father’s laptop as he bounced in his seat. Under his breath he murmured things like “Fricking beautiful,” “Masterpiece,” “Oh no you don’t,” and other nonsensical bullshit.
“He’s almost got it,” Jon said as Chang slid a small flash drive into the PC’s side.
That’s when I heard them. We’d taken too long. The montage slide show was over. Father’s speech was done. Security guards were racing up the stairs. Police had been called and were on their way. Leading the charge, more anxious than any of them to find out who had dared bring power into his world, was my father.
Let the cowering begin.
CHAPTER 25
I didn’t tell Jon what I was doing. Didn’t inform the surveillance stations of what was headed our way. I just reacted. I knew the moment Father stepped from the elevator onto our floor. Where his power had been poking at me for the past several minutes, suddenly it slammed into me like a sledgehammer. I stumbled against the wall, my breath knocked out of me. Jon rushed over just as Chang jumped from Father’s desk. “Got it!”
I met Jon’s wide, frantic eyes. “Don’t speak,” I whispered. His brows scrunched low. He opened his mouth to argue, but I never gave him the chance. He vanished.
Chang stumbled over a chair with a curse. “What the—”
Don’t speak. Your voices will give you away. I spoke directly into their minds. And not just Jon and Chang, but Shane, Theo, and Cordele as well. I’d turned us all invisible at the same time. If you need to say something, think it and I’ll get it out to everyone.
What the hell’s going on, Magnolia? Jon thought. This isn’t part of the plan.
Outside the office door, guards’ shouts echoed. My father barked commands. Keys jingled against the locks. Father pinpointed my power. They’re here.
Lots of silent curses on that one. I grabbed Jon’s and Chang’s arms and pulled them against the wall. It was easy to find them, since their thoughts were screaming at me. Chang, shut up! You’re the one who thought it would be cool if everyone just turned invisible and broke in here. Don’t freak out now. In the distance, someone started fighting. Cordele. Guards are blocking our secondary exit. Cordele is keeping them back, but more keep coming.
Send Shane and Theo in to help her. We need that exit clear, Jon ordered, completely unfazed. We’d been through this before, Jon and I. The door to Father’s office flew open and guards swarmed in, guns raised, scopes ready. These weren’t the security guys from the party downstairs. Dressed in all-black fatigues, these were like the guards on the estate: elite-trained and utterly loyal to Father. Their minds were sharp, focused, and emotionless. Buzzing from some kind of new drug that I didn’t recognize. They weren’t here to contain an intruder. They were here to kill.
Chang whined softly at my back, and I realized I’d shocked his arm where I held him tightly to the wall. My power was still as dampened as I could keep it, but energy was slipping out. Father was just too close now. I took Chang’s hand and fisted it in Jon’s shirt. Stay with Jon.
Where are you going? Jon’s mind whispered.
I’m still here. The last guard is about to come through the first set of doors. Father is right behind them. We should be able to slip past them through the second set of doors if we stick to the walls.
There was a break between guards, and I heard Jon think, Go. He and Chang hurried into the hallway. I kept close to Chang’s back, my eyes on the floor. If I didn’t look around, maybe, just maybe, I’d be able to make it to the exit without actually seeing my father. That bloody place inside me boiled at his nearness. I fisted my hands as if I were fisting my entire body, trying desperately to hold in everything that wanted out. Guards were everywhere. In a linked line, Jon led us past all of them, hugging the wall as we raced toward the very rear emergency stairwell, where Cordele and the others had knocked unconscious the guards they’d been holding off.
Is Magnus following your power? Jon asked.
Not yet, but he will. He knows the power source is here somewhere. He’s searching for it at the exits.
We rounded the last corner, and I could practically see where each of them stood. All three were as invisible as us, but their thoughts were so clear and so individualized, I could almost make out the expressions on each of their faces. Cordele stood by the door, propping it open with her back and listening for more approaching guards. She’d easily taken out the door’s alarm and handled the first wave of guards before Theo and Shane showed up to help. Theo and Shane stood on opposite sides of the hallway, each standing over two sleeping guards and wishing it was the other that they had just beaten into oblivion.
“We’re here,” I said quietly. Their sighs of relief were audible. As were the sudden shouts back at the surveillance stations. Since we were momentarily away from Father and the guards, this was the first chance I’d had to give our support team a heads-up on what I was doing. Thirteen and the others had heard only the guards’ and police’s points of view over their transmitters. The moment I spoke, there was a commotion of orders and demands and warnings in each of our ears.
“Everyone accounted for?” Jon asked, ignoring Thirteen’s demands for information.
“We’re all here,” I assured him.
“Then move out.”
The plan had been for only Jon and Chang to exit from here. The rest of us were supposed to redisperse back into the party downstairs, each leaving at a predetermined time to meet up with Thirteen at the rendezvous point a couple of miles away. Since that plan was totally shot, it looked like we’d all have to leave together now. Somehow I wasn’t convinced all six of us would fit in the small security vehicle waiting for Jon and Chang in the back delivery lot, but there were more immediate details to worry about. Like, oh, say, not dying in this hallway.
Everyone was still invisible, and the emergency exit door swung as Jon pushed Chang forward, sending him down first with Cordele. Shane went next; the sound of his footsteps rushing down the steel steps echoed through the hall. Theo and Jon waited for me. Drips of sweat trickled down my back. It was getting more and more difficult to keep up everyone’s invisible shields while holding back everything else inside me. If I could just get to the rendezvous point, I’d finally be able to let go.
Gunshots rang out. I hit the floor as bullets rained down the hallway, bouncing off the door and walls around us. Jon cried out. He was still invi
sible, but the hit threw him against the wall. A bloody mark suddenly appeared against the tile.
“Go! Go! Go!” Jon shouted. Theo grabbed my arm. Even invisible, he knew exactly where I was. But the moment he touched me, energy flared again, strong and intense. No way Father hadn’t felt that. Just as I thought it, Father’s energy slammed into me again. He’d found me, all right, and he was coming fast.
Guards poured into the hallway, firing their guns into what looked like an empty corridor. None of them moved forward, and no one questioned why Father had ordered them to shoot at nothing.
Another round of bullets buzzed past me. “Move!” Theo shouted, yanking hard on my arm.
I looked to where Jon’s thoughts still vibrated. He was on the ground, moving, keeping his wound from touching any other surfaces. I reached out with my free hand, not caring what part of him I grabbed on to, and started pulling. He grunted as I clung tightly to his hair. With an awkward heave, I threw him past where I crouched at the fire exit doorway and into the stairwell. His blood splattered on the floor, and I slipped, stumbling back into the hallway.
Momentum pulled my arm from Theo’s hold. I could feel him on the first steps as the door slowly started to shut. I’d barely used my power to keep it open when the entire door exploded.
Gunfire stopped as metal dust filled the hallway. I plastered myself to the wall and tried not to cough. Theo? I reached out with my thoughts.
He began coughing in a painful, choking gasp. His thoughts didn’t answer me, but they didn’t have to. He was hurt. That was all that mattered.
Everything inside me—that dark, bloody place, the golden connection with Theo—it all rose to the surface in a tidal wave, and I could feel the power’s eagerness to pour out of me. The hallway burned golden. The nurtured terror inside me dissolved as I turned to see my father, standing twenty yards away at the end of the hallway, a dozen guards crouched on the ground in front of him with weapons at the ready. Soot and smoke settled around us, but his black tuxedo remained spotless. He was brutally handsome, just like I remembered, with features reminiscent of some long-ago royal line.
My invisible cover was still in place, and a strange calm washed over me. I didn’t attack. I merely stopped holding back, and the swell of energy vibrating under my skin unfurled.
The guards were thrown backward, the wind knocked out of them from the force with which they hit the floor. Father stumbled back as well, but only for a moment. From surprise. Then he lashed out. The lights above me shattered. Guns in every scrambling guard’s hand unloaded in my direction, even though no one had pulled a trigger. Father couldn’t see me with his eyes, but he knew exactly where I was.
I guided the bullets past me easily and waited for them to change course, attack me from behind. But they simply landed on the floor behind me, pinging against the dusty tile. Was he holding back? Why? Father had never held back with me before—he’d always reveled in watching how the strength of his power deflated others.
Theo clanged against the metal railing in the stairwell. Without thought, I melted the guards’ guns in their hands, burning deep into their flesh while they shouted and cried. I watched Father. He didn’t even flinch. After a moment, with a wave of his hand, the guards went silent. They writhed and continued to cry out in agony, but their voices made no sound. Father narrowed his eyes in my direction, and I held my breath.
“You’ve succeeded in your mission, stranger.” Father’s voice was deep but icy. “I am intrigued.”
I held tight to my stance, bracing myself for the pain.
“Granted, your mercy in merely wounding my guards and not destroying them completely displays an emotional weakness I have no use for.” He lifted his hand, and, just like I’d done to Sharon back at the airport, squeezed his fingers into a fist. With a pop, all twelve guards collapsed. No more writhing in pain. Just dead.
He lowered his hand. With a tilt of his head, he considered where he felt my power. “I’ll agree to a conversation,” he said finally. “Small tasks could be assigned. Nothing too important, of course. Your manipulation of atoms to veil your appearance could be useful, even though your insistence on continuing your concealment reflects an understandable cowardice that will have to be dealt with.”
What? Cowardice? Assignments? What the hell was he talking about?
“As a first interview, I am notably impressed. But for any real consideration, I’d need a full résumé.” He waved his hand impatiently, and I winced automatically.
But nothing happened. No sudden whip of pain, no gut-wrenching feel of one of my organs erupting. Nothing.
“Well,” he said. “Show yourself. I haven’t got all night.”
Suddenly I understood. He thought I was some random person with supernatural abilities, here to show off in order to gain his attention and win some internship of power by his side. Had others done that? I wondered if Thirteen knew.
I stared at him through the glow of my vision, and something changed inside me. Not my power or my essence, but that child inside me who was still cowering by the wall at the sound of his voice. My father was talking to me. Not shouting, not snarling. There was no hatred in his eyes right now, only impatience. He had killed his own guards to silence them so he and I could have a conversation. And he wanted to keep talking: to know my powers, assign me responsibilities, maybe even guide me to the full potential he saw in me.
I wanted to be disgusted, livid, hurt. But I couldn’t. It was everything I’d ever longed for my entire life. My father didn’t want to kill or torture me right now. I’d impressed him. That child inside me glowed.
I let out a shaky breath, my insides trembling. His eyes narrowed. He’d heard my sigh and recognized it as female. Shit. Cold slithered over me, trying to strip away my invisible cover. He’d said I’d manipulated molecules to conceal my appearance. Was that what I was doing? I always pictured it more as a shield that I created. Whatever. Focus. The cold of his power matched the ice in his gaze.
Then, suddenly, something occurred to him. His thoughts became crystal clear, and so loud I couldn’t ignore them if I tried. His power was strengthening in my presence. Just as mine was being near him. Never had he found another supernatural that could strengthen his abilities by proximity. Only our bloodline had ever done that. But he felt stronger now. His mind flashed to all those years of failed experiments on other supernaturals. He wouldn’t need to try to harness my blood or drain me of my energies—just being near me fueled his abilities. His power flexed, and he smiled at the feel of it. His powers hadn’t felt this strong in over a year—not since he’d thought I’d died. He might not know who I was, but I was suddenly his number-one priority.
His power slashed at me again. “I will see who you are,” he said in a chilling voice. I inched backward, my nostalgia gone. If he forced me to show myself, all his rage and violence would fall on top of me, ripping me to shreds. I had to get out of there. Get Theo out of there. No more reacting. Time to move.
Rubble lined the floor. I had to watch my step as I moved back toward the stairwell. Theo had kept mostly silent, but I felt his anxiety now as he knew I was approaching. Father stepped over his fallen guards, his eyes fixed on where he couldn’t see me. His power pushed hard; jackhammers beat against my walls.
“Show yourself!” he snarled. I stopped. That was the voice I recognized. The beastly snarl, the vicious rumble. That was the voice that had forever preceded the pain. Like Pavlov’s dog, I froze.
Heavy hands landed on my shoulders. Warm fingertips gripped my neck. The moment Theo touched me, something inside me detonated. A blast of force burst out of me, blinding the hallway in white-yellow light.
Father flew backward over the dead guards and hit the far wall, crumbling the plaster behind him. He was on his feet again instantly. I gaped at him. Never had I lashed out so severely, even at the moments of my deaths. Theo pulled me back until I was in his arms, dragging me down the stairs. Father moved lightning-fast. In a blink, he sto
od in the fire exit doorway, no more than a few feet away from where Theo wrangled me down the stairs.
I looked up into Father’s eyes and saw all the hatred and violence I’d known my entire life. Then I saw a shift. His brow wavered; his lips parted. His icy power paused its assault against my shields. He made a move to speak, but nothing came out. I pulled back against Theo’s hold. What was he about to say?
“Ma-Marlena?” he whispered on a breath.
Marlena? I looked down and saw that I was flickering. Like a camera trying to focus, pieces of me could be made out. An image flashed in his mind, and I instantly remembered. The woman from the green corridor, the one he’d kept secret even from his brothers. Did he think I was her? I’d assumed she was dead.
Suddenly I was flung over Theo’s shoulder. Holding me in a grip like a vise, he moved like I could—so fast we didn’t need to be invisible not to be seen. He raced with me until we were outside and then kept going. Past the guard station, past the parking lot filled with police cars, past the entrance to the Capital One building. He raced until, literally, he couldn’t move another step. We collapsed in a stretch of bushes behind the parking garage where Thirteen had set up his surveillance team earlier. But now everyone was gone.
“Where are the others?” I asked as I rolled off Theo and pulled his sagging body from the bushes.
“Moved on to the recon point,” he said through heavy gasps. “Told them we’d catch up.”
He’d kept his head while I’d faced off with my father, communicating with Thirteen to get Chang and the others to safety. We were visible now. As I picked leaves from his hair, I scanned his body. “Where are you hurt? What is broken?”
He choked on air, gasping for breath. His legs shook from the unnatural exertion.
“It’s OK,” I said softly. “You’re OK. Just look at me. Breathe with me.” Just like he had done for me on so many occasions, I held his gaze and forced him to follow my breaths. In and out. In and out. After a few moments, he inhaled deeply. I brushed his hair from his face. “Where does it hurt? I know the explosion hit you, and your legs are strained beyond what they should be. Where is the pain worse?”
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